Vegan Ricotta Cheese made with slivered almonds, vinegar, yogurt, water and salt. So easy and tastes so authentic and like True Food Kitchen’s ricotta cheese! It is creamy, smooth, rich, thick and heavenly.
Does the fact that ricotta cheese is made with dairy stop me from creating the most amazing, authentic vegan ricotta? Nope. It’s fantastic and so real that I was giddy with how delicious it turned out, all without any oil either. I sneakily asked a close reader to taste test it yesterday to see if she thought it was just as good as we did. She said “spot on” and loved it. Vegan almond ricotta for the win.
We love the almond ricotta cheese at the restaurant, True Food Kitchen, so that was the inspiration here. And, I’m happy to report, that it tastes even better. It has more flavor. I knew I had a winner.
The great thing about this Vegan Ricotta Cheese is that it has no nutritional yeast.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
For this Vegan Almond Ricotta Cheese you will only need 5 ingredients total, including the salt/water: (exact measurements and details on the recipe card below)
- raw, slivered almonds
- plain coconut or soy yogurt (or whatever you like as long as it is not sweetened/flavored)
- white vinegar (key to the best cheesy flavor, as evidence in my Best Vegan Queso and my Cream Cheese Alfredo)
- salt
- water
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN RICOTTA CHEESE
Tip: You will need a food processor for this, a blender will not work, not even a vitamix because of the small amount of water used. Trying to use a blender will yield gritty ricotta and trying to add more water to compensate will yield a really bland taste, so a processor is a must here.
Step 1: Add the almonds to a large bowl and cover completely with boiling water. You must use boiling water here. Soak for a minimum of 6-8 hours or simply overnight.
Step 2: Add the soaked almonds to a food processor along with the yogurt, water,white vinegar and salt. Blend until completely smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
This is how the texture should look. Smooth and creamy with a classic ricotta texture, but not gritty.
The combo of the vinegar and yogurt give it the perfect subtle ricotta cheese flavor. I love ricotta because it is a subtle cheese flavor, unlike mozzarella or other cheeses, yet the amazing creamy, thick texture makes it such a delicious addition to so many dishes.
WAYS TO USE VEGAN RICOTTA CHEESE
- Now, one amazing way is to use this vegan ricotta on pizza, of course!
- My favorite way to use it is in these Vegan Stuffed Ricotta Shells with Spinach.
- Spread the cheese on toast and add green onions for a delicious breakfast.
- Add dollops of the ricotta over pasta for a delicious cheesy touch!
HOW TO USE VEGAN RICOTTA ON PIZZA
Before baking…add desired toppings or any veggies you like. I usually don’t like too many toppings, olives and basil or spinach. I wanted basil but when I went to Kroger, they had NO basil, can you believe that? Weird. So, I used spinach instead. Still yummy. I always use my favorite 5 minute pizza sauce.
BAKED and delicious.
The first bite into that delicious smooth and creamy ricotta had both my daughter and I so happy! I mean, look at that texture.
MORE VEGAN CHEESE RECIPES TO TRY
- Best Vegan Queso
- Vegan Pimento Cheese
- 5 Ingredient Strawberry Cream Cheese
- Blueberry Cream Cheese
- Smoky Black Pepper Cream Cheese
- Baked Smoky Cashew Cheese
- Baked Herbed Cashew Cheese
- Easy Vegan Mexican Cheese Sauce
- Nut-free Fat-free Vegan Cheese Sauce
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Vegan Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
- You will absolutely need a food processor to make this cheese, a blender will not work.
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) slivered almonds (not whole!)
- 5 tablespoons (75g) HOT water
- 2 teaspoons (10g) white vinegar
- 4 tablespoons (60g) unsweetened plain dairy-free yogurt (I like the So Delicious plain coconut yogurt, as well as the Kite Hill almond plain yogurt, both are SO good.)
- 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
NOTE
- If you absolutely cannot find a plain, unsweetened yogurt anywhere you live, you can try a vegan sour cream. OR sub for full-fat coconut milk, starting with 2 tablespoons and adjusting only if needed.
Instructions
- You will need a food processor for this, a blender will not work, not even a vitamix because of the small amount of water used. Trying to use a blender will yield gritty ricotta and trying to add more water to compensate will yield a really bland taste, so a processor is a must here.
- Add the almonds to a large bowl and cover completely with boiling water. You must use boiling water here. Soak for a minimum of 6-8 hours or simply overnight. You MUST soak them this long and do not try to rush this step or do a quick 30 minute boil. Since so little liquid is used to blend up the almonds, the soaking is required. This is what will yield a richer, flavorful ricotta, as opposed to having to add a bunch of water to get it soft during blending.
- After soaking the almonds, drain and rinse them and add them to a food processor.
- Process the almonds into small pieces, but not fully. Add the 5 tablespoons hot water, vinegar, yogurt, salt and process until it resembles ricotta and scraping the sides several times, as needed. It will seem too dry at first, but keep processing until it is smooth and no longer crunchy bits of almond remain. Please understand that food processors can greatly vary in both size and power, so yours may take several minutes to get smooth. You just simply need to be patient. Do NOT stop processing until it's smooth. The recipe works perfectly to get smooth if you do this. I literally let mine go a few minutes without stopping and it gets creamy and fluffy and perfect. Once it reaches the smooth texture, taste and if you desire more tang, add more yogurt or salt. If using the coconut milk, it will not taste as tangy or cheesy so you may want to add a tiny bit more vinegar if needed. The ricotta should be subtle but have a nice mild tangy cheesy flavor.
- To use this on pizza, just add it with your other toppings before baking. If you want it to stay thick and round, just use rounded spoonfuls. If you want it more flat or spread out, that works too, just press it down a bit before baking. It bakes lovely.
Just made this for Easter dinner to go in stuffed shells. My cousin and his gf are vegan and I’m trying make a meal where they have a main dish with everyone. It was very simple and tastes good. It does have a bit of a coconut flavour but I think that’s because I used cultured (unsweetened) coconut vs yogurt? Still tastes great and will add spices that will minimize the coconut taste. Can’t wait to serve and see the response. I doubled the recipe and it was fine. Can the extra be frozen?
Hi Nicole, so glad it was a hit! Yes, you do need to use the yogurt, the So Delicious unsweetened plain coconut yogurt is best and has zero coconut taste. Nobody has ever tasted coconut when I serve it. It just tastes like tangy yogurt. I’ve never tried freezing ricotta since we always use it right away, so I can’t say for sure!
This was awesome!!! I was skeptical because I have hated store bought vegan cheese and faux dairy products. Put this in lasagne and you could not tell the difference between this and the real thing! Thanks for a great recipe!!!
I’m so happy you loved it Erin!! Thank you for making it!
Hi, im going to try making this what kind of vinegar do you use? apple cider? white? also a fermented amaranth provides a good tangy cheesy flavor, but takes time to make. i couldn’t find non dairy plain yogurt today without going to 2 stores, but i did find a cashew kefir at Trader Joes, so i will try that…
Hi Mary! It says white vinegar on the recipe, so that is what you will need to use. Just a white distilled vinegar.
This sounds amazing, but alas, I’m sensitive to almonds, cashews, and peanuts. Wondering if this might work with sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, or macadamias? Or can you think of another alternative?
This is the absolute besttttt vegan ricotta cheese recipe I have ever made. I have been dairy free for 3 years and in search of a good vegan ricotta but never found one (I tried kitehill because I love their yogurt and some of their cream cheese but their ricotta did not taste authentic). This recipe actually taste like ricotta and that means a lot because I am extremely critical and hate almost all dairy free alternatives when it comes to cheese products. I baked this into my lasagna the other night and it baked perfectly (texture was great), my mom and boyfriend literally had no idea that it was not real ricotta. I added fresh basil, salt and pepper to the ricotta for the lasagna but it is delicious as is. Thank you so much for this recipe that has brought back a food that I have been missing! 🙂
Oh wow, you made my day Natalia!! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this fantastic review, so glad it more than met your expectations!
Amazing, I just made, it will be a staple from now on. Making stuffed shell with spinach and Ricotta.
I LOVE this recipe. It keeps a LONG time in the fridge. I had to use some thick cashew cream with extra vinegar for the yogurt, but it worked great. Love putting a dollop on my pasta or potatoes or spaghetti squash. Multiple uses! Even spread on toast with thin radish, cuke, roasted pepper slices, and a dash of everything bagel seasoning. YUM!
So glad to hear that Pam, thank you!
Has anybody been able to find ORGANIC slivered almonds? Would love to know a good source. Thank you!
I would try online or Amazon, etc. if you can’t find in stores! I don’t recall if seeing them or not in the stores.
Ellen, I see no reason you couldn’t use whole organic blanched almonds in place of “slivers” as long as you used the same “weight” [210 gm]. I would chop them up first in the processor before adding the other ingredients as mentioned. I will be making it with this method 🙂
As long as they are skinless, yes!
Thanks Brandi. I haven’t had luck online/ Amazon or at my local Whole Foods. I’ll keep looking. I MUST try this recipe. It’s such a treat when I get to order this at True Food Kitchen!
I’m new to your site, can you enlighten me as to why it’s good not to use nutritional yeast? I love it? It’s delicious and a good source of B12.
Hi Glenda! I do not use the yeast hardly at all anymore due to the fact it is very high purine, meaning it is a HUGE gout trigger for my husband and in people generally that suffer from gout. He would suffer very painful flareups after eating something with nutritional yeast. Additionally, anytime I would serve cheese sauce with it, it would cause bad headaches in my daughter. I just don’t think it is all that healthy for several people, we choose to supplement instead with b12. But if it doesn’t cause you any side effects, then that is great!
Does the hot water go into the processor or is that used to soak the almonds?
Hi Raquel, yes, the 5 tablespoons listed as the ingredients go into the food processor (noted in the directions). Soaking in boiling water is separate from the 5 Tbsp. Soak, drain and rinse and then proceed.
does anyone know how many cups this recipe makes?
Hi Evelyn, this will yield about 2 cups.
I tried the ricotta on it’s own, and it’s DELICIOUS! Since I’ve been vegan for so long, I honestly don’t know what dairy ricotta tastes like, but this was SO much better than the tofu ones I have made in the past!!!
I layered this with your homemade pizza sauce, pasta, ricotta, more sauce, more pasta, the rest of the double batch of pizza sauce, and your vegan mozzarella (baked for 10 minutes, then refrigerated). Since all three recipes are AMAZING on their own, I KNOW tonight’s dinner will be a HUGE hit at my house. THANK YOU, again for your phenomenal recipes!!!
I didn’t have slivered almonds so I soaked the whole raw organic almonds overnight, slipped off the skins then cut each one into slivers. I also used Forager cashew milk yogurt, unsweetened of course! I’m using this for an all veggie lasagna with thinly sliced zucchini and eggplant as my noodles.
Thanks so much Brandi. I’m a long time fan and have your book ?????
That’s so wonderful to hear, thank you so much Erin!!
This is what I did too! The shelling did add a little time to the overall process but I just did it in the morning after the soak/rinse while my coffee was brewing 🙂
I also used the Forager unsweetened cashew milk yogurt and it turned out great. This will be my go-to recipe from now on. Thank you!
That is awesome, thank you Chelsea for the awesome review!
My all-time favorite (pesto- and spinach-based) lasagna recipe – which I’m now attempting to veganize – calls for two pounds of ricotta cheese. By how much should I multiply your vegan ricotta to yield that much? Thank you!
Hi Brandi, is is possible to substitute another nut in place of the slivered almonds? I have a client who is allergic to almonds and has asked me about it. Thanks! Cyd
Hi Cyd! You can try raw cashews. I haven’t tried it personally, but that would be my best guess.
could you swap almond flour for the slivered almonds, using the same weight, of course.
Hi! I’m not sure I’ve never tried that.
Yummy recipe. My husband and I loved it. Question: can this be frozen?
So glad to hear! I’ve never tried freezing this, I imagine it would get rather a different texture so you may need to reblend it shortly after thawing it.
The texture is perfect & it’s so easy! But I wasn’t going to leave a review until I had made this a second time. I used the ricotta to make your stuffed shells & I didn’t realize my yogurt had sweetener in it until I tasted the final dish & I could tell the ricotta was sweet. Oops! BUT! Two days later, I ate some of the leftovers & the sweetness was less & it was so so good! It felt like I was eating light & fluffy ricotta cheese! So even though I had an oops, everything turned out great! I will definitely be making this again!
I’m trying this today. I soaked the almonds overnight and now realize I don’t have white vinegar. Any chance I might be able to swap for Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar? Thanks
I’d try the white wine vinegar, but since the taste is so different, you might need more, so adjust to taste if needed.
Thank you!
This recipe is one of our favorites. It is also frequently requested by our non-vegan family members. Is it possible to use sliced almonds as an alternative to the slivered?
Sorry just seeing this! So happy to hear that! Yes, as long as they don’t have skins!
How long will this keep in the fridge?
About a week!
Hi,
I am very excited to try this recipe out! I was wondering if there was any chance I could use cashews instead of almonds? Or will the taste be off then?
I’m so sorry Madison, I’m just seeing this. I have not tried cashews and they will likely make the ricotta more creamy/heavy versus light and fluffy that the almonds give, but you are welcome to try it! Almonds also provide a more nuetral flavor here so it truly tastes like ricotta, whereas cashews are a bit more strong in flavor.
Will this recipe be enough for lasagna or should i double it?
I know many readers who use this for lasagna, not sure if they double it. But it makes a good amount to stuff the ricotta shells recipe linked in the post, so I think it should, depending on how large your recipe is!
Dear Brandi, I’m sincerely delighted with this recipe for vegan ricotta cheese as well as my sons and husband. What drew me tois just it’s simplicity and the result is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! I don’t remember any more the taste of common ricotta because I’ve been vegan for almost 15 years, but my friend tried yours and she said:” OMG!!! This is it! This is Ricotta!!!!” Thank you again and please recive nice and thrilled greetings from Croatia ❤️?????
That is so amazing Anita, thank you so much!!
Well, I *did* read the directions!
So instead of asking you to repeat those, I am wondering what could work if one does not want to go buy a food processor.
I have many great appliances, and one more is one more than I can handle.
Great as it is, a Vitamix can’t blend small amounts that sit below the blade, whether it is high or low water content. (And their expensive small cup gets poor reviews from Vitamix fans for poor design.)
Might a small stick blender work?
They are very high-speed even on the low setting, so I’m not sure.
You can always try it! I just don’t know since I have never tried it. It may work in a small bowl so the cheese is not too shallow and you can repeatedly move it up and down.
Perfection! I have been longing to make a homemade version of True Food Kitchen’s ricotta and this is it! I finally made a GF DF and low carb Lasagna – this ricotta put it over the top. My husband had 3 helpings!! I only soaked the almond slivers for 2 hours and it still turned out incredible. Thank you!!!!